Report Claims Apple Television to have Siri and Face-Tracking Camera

Cult of Mac is reporting that they have a source who has seen a prototype Apple television set. They claim that the set looks very similar to Apple’s 27-inch Thunderbolt display they are currently shipping, but “much larger”.

The most notable feature in the report is a Siri-enabled camera that is capable of tracking faces, and to be used to make FaceTime calls. This face-tracking feature is in place due to the greater distance the television would be used at as compared to, say, an iPhone or iPad. It would also be capable of zooming in on a face and tracking the user even as they move around in a room. This sounds very cool.

Ever since the line from Jobs’ biography made its way to the public, that is, the line wherein Jobs reportedly stated that he had finally “cracked” the user interface problem surrounding television sets. Immediately after that nugget became public, claims began to surface that this was in reference to Siri, and thus voice commands.

As I’ve stated before, I have no doubt that Apple is at least tinkering with the idea of a television set based on the reports we’ve been hearing over the last few months. This report, to me, lost credibility when it began to claim some things, that I believe are unrealistic to expect at this time. Specifically, I’m thinking that tracking and zooming in on a face from across the room feels a little space aged. Perhaps it’s in the works. After all, Apple has done some amazing stuff in the past that I thought wasn’t possible at the time.